Rosemary Deen (November 17, 1925 – September 9, 2025) died peacefully at her home in Stone Ridge. Born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Rosemary was the daughter of Harold Edward Fowle and Estelle (Scalise) Fowle. She earned a Bachelor’s Degree from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, and an MA in English Literature at the University of Michigan. Subsequently, she completed coursework for a doctoral degree at the University of Chicago, where she met Leonard Deen, whom she married in 1954. In Bayside, New York, they raised five children.
Rosemary taught at Queens College for many years. With co-author Marie Ponsot, she published two books about teaching writing: Beat Not the Poor Desk (1982) and The Common Sense (1985). Her collection of personal essays, Naming the Light (1997), features plants, people, and beloved places. She served as poetry editor of Commonweal for 41 years, retiring in 2019. Libraries were formative and essential in Rosemary’s life. She supported the Stone Ridge Library through donations and service on their Board of Trustees for nearly twenty years, as well as through her sale of daylily bulbs.
Rosemary was a reader, writer, teacher, and gardener. Although her childhood was marked by poverty, she always said her life was a lucky one. Higher education transformed her life. She loved art, music, history and literature, especially poetry. An enthusiastic gardener, she shared her passion for daylilies with others; now the offspring of these daylilies bloom annually in gardens across Ulster County.
In retirement, Rosemary taught literature courses through institutes of life-long learning. Through the Stone Ridge Library, she led a group that met on a bi-weekly basis to read and discuss the works of a poet, sometimes spending months or years on a poet’s corpus. Rosemary’s unquenchable interest in other people meant that she touched acquaintances and influenced everyone who knew her, entering into conversation with shopkeepers, crafting email and text messages in memorable language, and inspiring others who found her passions infectious.
Rosemary is survived by her five children, Matthew Leonard Deen, Catherine Walker Deen Piuggi (Louis), Mary Stella Deen (Jason), John Harrison Deen (Alison), Barbara Elizabeth Deen; by nine grandchildren; and by six great grandchildren.
Complete obituary details can be found at the Copeland-Hammerl Funeral Home, https://www.copelandhammerl.com
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